


That Spectral Brat

by TheFutterwacken



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Ghost Sex, Ghosts, Haunting, Humour, Romance, Swearing, Violence, human/ghost romance, spectral
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-01-15 16:23:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1311358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFutterwacken/pseuds/TheFutterwacken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a ghost is lonely and boring when there is no one to haunt. Then one day the Survey Corps take up residence in the old abandoned castle that is your home.</p>
<p>You have many young, easily frightened cadets available to pick on now. </p>
<p>Ah, but that frowny-faced corporal is a skeptic. It'd be much more fun to pick on him instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a LevixGhost!Reader romance story.
> 
> Originally intended to be a one-shot, but will now consist of approximately 10 chapters. This is also posted on my Deviantart account under the same username.

"-and they say that if you're in the halls at night, you can hear the faint sound of the piano playing-"  
  
"Who's 'they'?"  
  
"Shhh! It's the anonymous 'they', okay, Ymir? Lemme finish-"  
  
"Your story is crap."  
  
"Let Connie finish, Ymir."  
  
"Shut up, Braun. He's scaring Christa."  
  
"N-no, I'm f-fine! It's fine! Please continue, Connie."  
  
"'Kay, so, as I was saying, you can hear the faint sound of the piano playing, but if you follow the sound, the piano will stop just before you open the door," Connie brought the candle under his chin, creating an eerie glow on his shadowed features, and looked at the group of cadets with intense eyes. "And when you open the door, no one will be there. The piano lid will be up, but that will be the only sign that someone was there. There will be no sound of any footsteps or doors closing. And as you stare into the empty room, you will feel the air grow cold and creep up against the back of your neck, but no one will be there when you turn around."  
  
"Lame!"  
  
"Aw, not you too, Jean," Connie pouted.  
  
"What? It is. Like we haven't all heard that one before. I got a better one-"  
  
"Yeah right, Horse-face."  
  
"You wanna go, Jeager?!"  
  
"Like you even stand a chance!"  
  
"Both of you, stop."  
  
Jean stared at Mikasa for a moment, before bowing his head and grumbling underneath his breath. He returned to his spot on the floor and cleared his throat in an attempt to will the pink heat dusting his cheeks away. "Seriously though," he continued, "I got a good one to tell. You know that small, deteriorating room near the dungeon?"  
  
"You mean that random room that looks like it should be a closet, but only has some weird pot-hole in the floor?" Sasha piped in, lightly swaying her feet against the bed she sat on.  
  
"Yeah, that one."  
  
"It's not even used for anything, but the corporal still makes us clean it," Connie said.  
  
Sasha shivered. "Ugh, I hate going in there. Something is just...off about it."  
  
"Which is where my story comes into play, so shut up and listen," Jean said, taking the candle out of Connie's hands. "Couple days ago I was cleaning the hallway outside of the room. There's no windows down there, so it was kinda hard to see everything with just the torches-"  
  
"Worst hallway to clean. Ever."  
  
"Yeah, I know, Sasha. Now, _shhh_. So it was kinda dim and very quiet, but it was just another normal day, y'know? That's until I started to hear this faint scratching sound. I tried to ignore it, wanting to hurry up so I could make it to lunch, but the sound slowly got louder and louder. Eventually I decided to check it out. It sounded like mice, which I did NOT want to find, cause who wants to report something like that to a neat-freak corporal? But I just had to check it out cause the sound was really starting to piss me off. So I slowly opened the door and that's when I saw it," Jean paused, glancing at the cadets sitting around him in the dormitory. Some of the cadets were shaking, others remained stoic, but all were giving him their full attention. A smirk tried to crawl its way onto his lips, but he resisted and instead gave his audience the best serious look he could muster. "It was gone in a flash, but for the briefest of moments, I saw it. Or more like, I saw...'her'."  
  
Gasps filled the room from some of the cadets. Jean gave in, and a large smirk appeared on his face at the cadets' reactions.  
  
Eren scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "There's no way," he said.  
  
Jean opened his mouth to retort, but was quickly cut off by Sasha, who leaned forward and whispered excitedly, "You saw her?!"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"What'd she look like?" Connie asked.  
  
"Well, I only saw her for like a second, but she had (h/c) hair and was wearing a white dress."  
  
"Bullshit. Ghosts don't exist," Ymir cut in, wrapping an arm around a jittery Christa.  
  
"Hey, Armin. Does my description match the painting?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
Armin opened up an old, heavy leather-bound book and flipped through the yellowed pages. He came to a stop about half way through on a page covered with an illustration of a young lady sitting on a chair. Her expression was blank and her posture was polite and uncomfortable, and she was clad in an elaborate blue dress with a high laced collar and puffy sleeves. Her locks of (h/c) hair were well groomed and curled into ringlets, with a white ribbon tied atop her head. Her (e/c) eyes peered up at the viewer under thick lashes with a bored, almost annoyed gaze.  
  
"She has the same hair colour, but..."  
  
"That's it! That's her!" Jean exclaimed, interrupting the blonde and excitedly pointing at the image. "Except she looked waaaay paler," he added.  
  
"You've already seen that picture of her before. You're just taking what you've seen and using it to describe a bullshit ghost in a bullshit story," Ymir said.  
  
Not a second after Ymir spoke, all the candles flickered and died simultaneously, effectively casting the entire room and its inhabitants in complete darkness. No one breathed or uttered a word in that instant, until finally, a shrill scream cut through the air like a knife on butter. Collective sounds of screams and aggravated yells broke out shortly after as the dark room erupted into chaos.  
  
"The lights went out! The lights went out!"  
  
"Holy crap, she's here, isn't she?"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"She's watching us!"  
  
"Eeek! Something just touched my back!"  
  
"Calm down!"  
  
"I can't see! What if she's standing right in front of us?!"  
  
"Someone light a candle! Light a candle!"  
  
The sound of the door creaking open was not unnoticed over the loud shouts of the cadets, who instantly silenced and stared in horror and anticipation at the dorm entrance. The door swung open, revealing the dark outline of a figure faintly illuminated by a torch light in the hallway.  
  
The room once more erupted into panic as the cadets screamed and yelled at the ominous figure looming in the doorway.  
  
"It's the ghost!"  
  
"She's here to kill us!"  
  
"I told you she was real!"  
  
"Go away! Go away!"  
  
"Eeeeek!"  
  
It wasn't until a candle ignited that the group abruptly halted their screaming and stared wide eyed at the now visible figure with new found fear.  
  
"Someone care to explain to me why you're all in the girls' dorm, screaming at the top of your lungs, in the middle of the damn night?" the corporal asked in a low, dark voice.  
  
The lack of response from the stunned cadets caused the corporal to narrow his grey eyes into a dark scowl.  
  
" **Answer. Me.** "  
  
Christa took it upon herself to untangle from Ymir's protective grip and give a shaky salute, which could barely be seen from the glow of the candle in her superior's hand. "W-we were telling stories, Sir," she spoke up. She looked nervously between her fellow comrades before continuing, "Jean was telling us about t-the ghost that haunts this castle-"  
  
"Tch. Is that why you were all screaming? Over a shitty rumour?"  
  
"But it's true!" Sasha cut in. "All the candles went out at the same time after Ymir said there was no such thing!"  
  
"T-that's why everyone was screaming, Sir," Armin added.  
  
"Not all of us. Some of us were telling you to shut up," Ymir said.  
  
Levi stared at the cadets with a blank expression for a long moment, before saying in a bored tone, "200 laps for all of you tomorrow for screaming. No lunch tomorrow for being up past curfew. And..." his eyes briefly roamed over the dejected group, "extra kitchen duty for the boys for being in the girls' dorm."  
  
A collective mumble of "yes, Sir" and the thumping of salutes resounded through the air in response. Levi shifted in the doorway, about to turn around, before stopping and giving the group one last bored glare.  
  
"Oh, and there's no such thing as ghosts, brats. Get that through your shitty skulls," he said, before leading the males out of the room and back to their dorm.  
  
~~~~  
  
A sigh of exasperation left Levi's thin lips as he walked through the dimly lit castle towards his office. A dull ache throbbed in his head; an unfortunate result of filing paperwork late into the night and dealing with the troublesome cadets. A frown found its way upon his features as he thought of the cause of the cadets' irritating screams.  
  
"Tch. Dumb, superstitious brats," he grumbled, as he came to a halt in front of his office doors.  
  
Levi shifted the candle to his other hand, as his dominate hand grabbed the ring of keys from his pocket. He fumbled with the assortment of keys, squinting in the flickering light for the appropriate one. A cold air brushed passed him, extinguishing the small flame of the candle. Levi let out a small gasp of surprise at the sudden darkness. Caught off guard, the key ring slipped from his fingers and landed on the floor with a clang.  
  
"Shit," Levi cursed, crouching down and blindly searching with his hand for the fallen object. "What the crap?! Where is it?!" he hissed. Irritation bubbled within him at the seemingly bare floor.  
  
A faint jingling echoed through the hallway. Levi's breath caught in his throat and he stilled, widened grey eyes staring aimlessly at the darkness ahead of him. The sound slowly faded, bathing the corridor in silence once more. Levi let out the breath he was holding and carefully rose to his feet. The sudden gust of wind had not only killed his candle light, but all the torches nearest to him as well, leaving nothing but the weak moonlight seeping through the windows to illuminate the area.  
  
The clinking noise started up again, reverberating against the walls, and Levi whipped his head to the left in the direction of the sound. A figure, faintly bathed in the light of a torch, peered at the black haired man from around the corner at the end of the hall. Levi narrowed his eyes at the figure, taking note of their feminine features and (h/c) hair as he angrily stalked towards them. He could see her large (e/c) eyes staring straight at him, and the details of the cadet uniform hugging her body as he neared the source of light.  
  
"Tch. I told you shitty brats not to leave your rooms passed curfew," he said.  
  
The girl didn't respond as she continued to stare at the approaching corporal, before abruptly turning on her heel and disappearing around the corner. Levi regarded her actions with surprise for a short second, before following after the cadet.  
  
"What do you think you're doing, cad-" Levi came to a halt at the corner and stared open-mouthed at the long, empty corridor in front of him. "Where...?" he said, pausing as he felt a gentle tug on his jacket. Levi looked down and his eyes widened at the lump in his pocket. Cautiously reaching in, the cold metal shape of a ring of keys brushed against his fingertips.


	2. Chapter 2

It was an extra slow day for Levi. After working late into the night, dealing with the cadets, and then the incident in the hallway, sleep eluded him until the early hours of the morning. Needless to say, he was very, very tired, and therefore very, very grumpy.  
  
"Oi! Get up, brat!" Levi barked as he kicked the limp leg of a fallen Sasha. She let out an exhausted groan and peered up at him with pleading eyes. "Tch. If you don't get up now, then you won't be having any dinner either."  
  
That was all it took for the girl to jump to her feet, salute him, and then continue along the track with the other fatigued cadets.  
  
Levi returned to his spot against the stone wall, crossed his arms, and proceeded to bitterly watch the struggling cadets. He almost regretted giving them extra laps for punishment, as he had to keep an eye on them the entire time to ensure their continued co-operation, but it was much more appealing to him than paperwork in his current tired state.  
  
The corporal sighed as he leaned his head against the wall and closed his heavy eyes. His irritation slowly began to wither away as the harmonic melody of a piano seeped into his mind and lulled his stressful thoughts. It was like a sweet lullaby that wrapped him in a gentle embrace and quenched the headache-inducing sounds of the cadets' thumping footsteps and ragged breaths. A small smile formed on his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so at peace.  
  
Wait.  
  
Piano?  
  
Levi's eyes shot open as he broke away from the trance. He pushed off of the wall and turned to the doorway leading into the castle. The gentle melody grew louder the closer he got to the door. He placed his hand on the old, worn handle and paused. He knew there was an old piano in the following room, but he had never heard it played before, and he was quite sure that no one in the military knew how to play such an expensive instrument.  
  
The door creaked as he slowly opened it and stepped inside. He paused for a moment, eyes blinking as he tried to adjust to the change of lighting, before turning his head in the direction of the piano. The music had stopped, and noting the lack of another person in the room, Levi's irritation only grew.  
  
"How could they have run off so fast?" he said, gritting his teeth as he peered behind each door in the large room. No one. Besides the open piano lid, there was not a single trace of anyone else being in the area.  
  
"Who you talking about, Shorty?" came a sudden voice from behind.  
  
Levi sighed and scrunched his eyes shut as he felt his headache return. "What do you want, Hanji?" he questioned dully.  
  
"I heard about what happened last night," she began.  
  
Levi inwardly groaned. Turning around, he regarded the eccentric woman with vague distaste. "I don't give a shit about what you've heard," he replied in his monotone voice.  
  
Hanji rolled her eyes. "Well I think you should, because something is strange..." she said, trailing off as her face contorted into a pensive frown.  
  
"Yes, everyone has already established that you're strange, Shitty-Glasses," Levi said, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Hanji ignored his comment and stared at him with intense, excited eyes. "I heard the cadets complaining about their punishment," she said.  
  
"You're wasting my time," Levi cut in, letting a small sigh escape his thin lips.  
  
"But that's not all!" Hanji shifted her weight between each foot and glanced at the door leading to the training field. She almost seemed to bounce on the spot as she continued to speak, "I heard them complaining about how it wasn't fair that Eren didn't get punished."  
  
Levi shrugged. "It's their own fault. Why would I punish Eren when he wasn't even there to begin with?"  
  
The brunette nodded her head vigorously in agreement. "I know, I know! That's exactly what I thought! But then," her brows furrowed and her voice lowered as she stepped closer to the corporal, "after Eren said he wasn't with them last night, they all looked at him like he had grown an extra head- whoa, maybe he can grow an extra head, I should test that during my next experime-"  
  
"Hanji."  
  
"Oh. Right. So, yes! They all looked really surprised and they didn't believe him! Then they went on about how he was listening to the ghost stories and even argued with Jean."  
  
Levi closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his forehead. Listening to the babbling woman was only worsening the throbbing in his skull.  
  
"Maybe he's experiencing some memory loss. A side effect from being a titan-shifter perhaps? But you didn't see him there either, maybe it was too dark and you didn't notice..." Hanji mumbled, more to herself than Levi, as she jotted her thoughts down on a small notepad.  
  
Levi walked passed the brunette towards the exit, stifling a yawn with his hand. "I don't care. Take it up with Erwin if you feel it's important," he said, leaving the room without a second glance.  
  
~~~~  
  
"You're making it up."  
  
"Am not! Guys, I'm serious. I got barely any sleep last night 'cause it wouldn't stop."  
  
"You were probably just hyped up from all the stories, Sasha," Reiner said.  
  
Sasha frowned and took a large bite of her bread. "I know what I heard," she said.  
  
Christa placed a delicate hand on her friend's shoulder. "Sasha, please don't talk with your mouth full."  
  
Said girl made an incomprehensible sound at the blonde before thickly swallowing the large bite. "I'm just soooo hungry," she whined.  
  
Her friends grimly nodded in agreement. Dinner was going by much quicker for the teenagers due to the long day of exercise and denial of lunch.  
  
"So what exactly did you hear?" Armin asked, bringing the conversation back on track.  
  
Sasha frowned. "It was hard to tell. I couldn't really make out any of the words, and if I did, I've already forgotten them. It was just a bunch of echoe-y whispers in my ear."  
  
Connie shuddered. "Creeeeeepy."  
  
"Well, I believe you, Sasha," Jean said, surprising the girl.  
  
Ymir scoffed. "I don't. It's all a load of crap."  
  
"Yes it is. What did I tell you brats about believing such nonsense?"  
  
The group silenced and stared at the corporal standing with crossed arms behind them.  
  
Levi rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap. I don't want to hear any of you brats talking about this shit again, got it?"  
  
"Yes, Sir," came the cadets' response.  
  
"Good," Levi said, and then exited the dining hall.  
  
~~~~  
  
The sun had set a long time ago, and Levi would be damned if he didn't hit the hay within the next few minutes. He quietly sighed in relief at the missing weight of papers that were in his arms moments ago. Closing the commander's office door behind him, Levi began his slow trek back to his own quarters; a faint flicker of excitement showing in his eyes at the prospect of finally satisfying his ache for sleep.  
  
All thoughts of the long awaited sleep quickly washed away as a familiar sound trickled into his eardrums. Levi came to a complete stop in the dark hallway; feelings of dread and aggravation cascading upon him.  
  
"Not this crap again..." he grumbled, rubbing his aching temples in an attempt to steel himself for the inevitable stress ahead.  
  
Levi made sure to open the old wooden door as quietly as possible. The creaking hinges were muffled by the continuous stream of rhythmical notes resounding from the open room below. The corporal wasted no time in slinking towards the edge of the landing. Resting his hands on the railing, Levi leaned forward slightly and peered down at the dimly lit room.  
  
He could see her just barely. The colours and details of her appearance were cast mostly in shadow. The closest torch on the wall did hardly anything to bring light to her features; it was almost as if the light was specifically ignoring her.  
  
Levi took a moment to watch her deft fingers glide gracefully across the old piano keys. The melody was the same from the morning, and was even more beautiful in person. Music wasn't common outside of the inner district, especially when involving the more expensive instruments. Levi couldn't help but to appreciate the sound, as besides its pleasing tune, it was also an incredibly rare thing to have the pleasure of hearing.  
  
The corporal didn't notice the melody had come to a finish in his state of reverie, until the shutting noise of the piano lid reached his ears. His eyes refocused on the girl below, who silently returned his gaze from where she sat on the bench.  
  
Shaking his head to clear his foggy mind, Levi quickly descended the set of stairs to the room below. Her features became more familiar the closer he got to her.  
  
"You're that brat from last night," he said. It wasn't a question, and her oddly calm acknowledgement of his presence only further supported his observation.  
  
She slowly tilted her head to the side, her soft locks of (h/c) hair listlessly falling in her blank eyes. "Hello," she said, her voice surprisingly clear and neutral.  
  
Levi flinched ever so slightly at her reaction, or rather, lack of. His grey eyes dropped downward and took in the details that made up her cadet uniform. It was strange to him to come across a cadet who wasn't intimidated by him even in the slightest.   
  
His annoyance suddenly returned, as he remembered the reason he was there. "This is the second time I've seen you up past curfew. Explain yourself, cadet," he said, folding his arms across his chest.  
  
A slender finger tapped the smile that spread on her lips as she hummed in contemplation. Her (e/c) eyes met the corporal's, and he could see the plain amusement dancing within. "It's much more fun to do things at night," she said in a playful voice.  
  
Levi's eyes widened a fraction at her sudden change in demeanour. Did she just make a sexual innuendo, or was he imagining things? He rid his head of the thoughts and frowned at the girl. "Tch. I don't care if you can't sleep at night or whatever, you're not to leave your room past curfew. This is the last time you will do this, got it, brat?"  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
Levi narrowed his eyes. Did she just smirk? It was hard to see with the very minimal amount of light in the large room. He continued to study what he could make of her features in the dying light, before he realized something. Other than the previous night, he could not recall there ever being a time where he had seen her. Not only that, but he didn't know her name. Alarm bells started ringing in his head at the thought and his body tensed.  
  
"What's your name, Cadet?" he questioned, eyeing her with barely hidden suspicion.  
  
The girl moved her arms into a salute as she replied, "(First name) (Last name), Sir."  
  
Levi only grew even more tense at her response. He couldn't recall hearing that name among the cadets either.  
  
"Why haven't I seen you before?" he asked.  
  
The girl's features twisted into something unreadable, before morphing into a look of confusion. "You haven't?" she quietly repeated.  
  
"No, I have not," he gritted his teeth.  
  
She shrugged. "I've seen you many times before. Perhaps it's because the recruits have only just joined the Survey Corps this week?"  
  
Her words hit him like a brick. He cursed mentally at his foolishness, no doubt caused by his overworked and tired brain.  
  
"You must still be getting used to everyone, no?" she continued.  
  
He grunted in response and lightly nodded his head, looking away from her for a brief moment. He glared into the darkness as he inwardly seethed. How dare she make him look stupid. And how dare him for being too careless to not pick up on something so obvious right away.  
  
"Brat," he said, snapping his head back to fully face her with his glare. "My office, tomorrow morning before breakfast. I will decide your punishment then," he barked.  
  
She nodded her head, a small smile once again on her lips. "Yes, Sir."  
  
Levi headed towards the exit but abruptly stopped in his tracks halfway up the stairs. He had almost forgotten to make sure that she obeyed his orders and returned to her dorm. Turning back around, his words caught in his throat as he stared at the empty room with widened eyes.  
  
He hadn't heard any doors opening, not to mention any movement from her at all.  
  
It was almost as if she had vanished from thin air.


	3. Chapter 3

The minutes ticked by while the sun continued to rise further into the clear sky. Levi scowled at the clock on the wall and irately tapped his pen against his desk.  
  
"Where is that shitty brat?" he growled under his breath.  
  
Breakfast was already starting and he could hear the sounds of soldiers chatting and walking past his door on their way to the dining hall. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he lifted himself from his chair and marched out of his office, firmly closing the door shut behind him.  
  
The soldiers he passed in the hallway gave him a wide berth as he stormed towards the dining hall with a fire in his eyes. He sped up his pace as he spotted the familiar blonde hair of his superior further down the corridor.  
  
"Ah, Levi. Good morning," Erwin greeted with a smile as the short corporal appeared by his side.  
  
Levi grunted in response. He wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.  
  
Erwin stopped his trek towards the dining hall and looked at his fellow comrade. "Something's bothering you?"  
  
Levi frowned and halted beside the taller man. "Yes," he began, folding his arms over his chest. "I ordered a cadet to report to my office before breakfast, but she didn't show up."  
  
"Perhaps she slept in? What's her name?" the commander questioned.  
  
The corporal frowned as he raked through the hazy memory of the night before. "(First name) (Last name)," he said slowly.  
  
Erwin furrowed his eyebrows at the shorter man. "Levi...There aren't any cadets in the Survey Corps with that name," he said.  
  
Levi stared blankly at the blonde. On the inside, panic set in as his mind went on over-drive and tried to sort through the suddenly scrambled bundle that was his thoughts. Levi opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.  
  
The commander gave him a worried look. "You're still getting used to the new recruits, Levi. Maybe you misheard or got it mixed up with another name?" Erwin reasoned. He crossed his arms and gave the corporal a weak smile. "Besides, I saw how tired you were yesterday. You're overworking yourself, so a slip-up is only natural," he said, his smile growing wider as he gently patted his friend's shoulder. "It's what makes you human, Levi," he added.  
  
Levi relaxed ever so slightly at the man's words. It made sense and was the only thing he could think of that could explain his situation. Still, despite the commander's reassuring words, Levi couldn't help but feel like something was...off with the whole situation.  
  
The short man quickly murmured his agreement and departed from the blonde. Thoughts of the previous two nights entered the front of his mind as he retreated to his office.  
  
He remembered the first night, where she had seemingly appeared out of the blue and had disappeared as quickly as she had came. Then there was the strange instance with the key, which he could have sworn he had dropped, yet had ended up hearing it jingling down the hallway and later found in his pocket.  
  
Levi involuntarily shuttered and glanced at the ring of keys hanging on the wall by the door. Although he had repeatedly tried to convince himself that it was just a hallucination conjured up by his exhausted mind, he still found himself avoiding the object altogether and keeping his door unlocked whenever he left.  
  
Then there was the instance with the piano the day before. No one was there when he investigated. It must have been the girl, as she was playing the same song later that night, and she still somehow left the room without a single sound.  
  
A sudden image of the cadets sitting around a dark room came to mind. There were rumours of a ghost haunting the castle, which was apparently the current subject of the newbies' interests.  
  
Levi scoffed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. The idea that what he had experienced was caused by a ghost was just ludicrous. Everything that had happened could easily be explained logically.  
  
"Probably dreamed half of it up," he mumbled in reassurance. Drawing out a long, deep breath of air, Levi carefully stretched his tired limbs and focused his grey eyes on the abundant towers of paper aligning the surface of his wooden desk. His shoulders slumped minutely when he regarded the workload with dread, then sighed once more as he mentally steeled himself for the long day ahead.  
  
~~~~  
  
Just one more sentence and...  
  
"Done," Levi said, letting out a sigh as he put down his pen and placed the report on top of a pile of neatly stacked papers.  
  
The corporal arose from his chair and clutched the rough sections of fabric framing the window within his hands. Levi paused to glance out at the flecks of starlight illuminating the dark blue hues of the night sky and the dim, chalky-white crescent hanging in the centre, before tightly drawing the drapes shut.  
  
His joints made a light cracking sound as he stretched his tired ligaments and yawned. It had been a long uneventful day, besides his chat with Erwin at breakfast, and Levi had planned to keep it uneventful by heading straight to bed, rather than leave his quarters and risk running into another peculiar and stressful situation.  
  
Levi sighed once more and turned around to head for his bedroom, but was met with a sight that nearly sent him jumping back into the window.  
  
There stood the female cadet, arms crossed behind her back, and a blank expression on her pale features as her eyes stared at him unwaveringly.  
  
Levi inhaled sharply as he returned her silent stare, his body tense and rigid. For the first time, someone had actually managed to make him feel a bit _uneasy._  
  
The girl suddenly broke off her intense gaze and scanned her surroundings with her piercing (e/c) eyes, before returning her attention to the short man with a look of apprehension.  
  
"Oh, crap," she muttered, breaking the silence. "It's way past breakfast, isn't it?" she questioned hesitantly.  
  
Levi's eyes widened a fraction at her words, before furrowing in confusion. "What?" was all he could think of saying.  
  
The girl ignored him as her face contorted into a frown and her voice changed to a scolding tone. "Dammit. I knew I should've left a bit earlier...Time goes by way too fast here..."  
  
"What?"  
  
The girl looked up at him with a startled expression. "Oh, sorry. I had forgotten you were there..." she said, giving him a shy smile.  
  
"What?!"  
  
Something in Levi snapped.  
  
His eye twitched as he advanced towards the girl with powerful strides. She looked slightly taken aback by his sudden approach, and Levi couldn't help but smirk.  
  
"Good. You should feel frightened by the hell I'm about to give you, brat," he spat as he came to a halt a few feet in front of her.  
  
The girl looked at a loss for words as she averted her gaze to the wall adjacent to her.  
  
Levi growled and roughly grabbed the front of her collar, forcing the girl to look at him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you piece of shit," he snarled.  
  
She didn't respond, but kept her gaze on him as he took advantage of the bright light to study her in detail.  
  
She was much more pale than he had originally thought. It wasn't just her skin that lacked a lot of pigment, everything about her did. Her (s/c) skin, (e/c) eyes, and (h/c) hair were all very pastel in colour. Her figure was not normal for a female cadet. She did not possess the typical toned muscles that all soldiers had due to vigorous training routines. Instead, her stature was delicate and curvy; evident signs of a comfortable upbringing. Overall, she was relatively pretty. Her pale features almost seemed to illuminate, giving her a very odd, yet strangely alluring, beauty.  
  
Levi fought off the heat rising to his cheeks and refreshed the intensity of his glare. "So, (First name) (Last name), was it?" he asked, his voice reverting back to its usual bored tone.  
  
"Yes, that's right," she said, nodding her head.  
  
Levi's grip on her collar tightened. "I can tell you're lying to me, brat. There is no one in the Survey Corps with that name," he said, before roughly pushing her against the wall. Levi shifted his hand from her collar to around her neck as he entered her personal space. Oddly enough, his grip around her neck did not appear to affect her in the slightest, causing Levi's glare to briefly falter at her impassive expression.  
  
"But that is my name," she replied effortlessly.  
  
"Then who," his grip tightened, "the fuck," and tightened, "are you?" he finished, hiding his surprise behind a scowl at her continued lack of reaction. How could she still be breathing so easily when he was choking her? "Cause you sure as hell are not a cadet," he added.  
  
The girl shrugged. "Honestly, I'm surprised that even worked. I thought that the," she waved her hands dramatically in the air and increased the pitch of her voice with exaggerated enthusiasm, "oh-so-great-and-powerful Lance Corporal Levi would see through a lie like that."  
  
All of the pent-up frustration Levi had collected from the week had suddenly reached its peek within that moment and broke down his mental barrier with a crashing force. "You are trespassing on military grounds!" Levi all but shouted as he tugged the girl's neck forward, only to then slam her head backwards into the wall. Her eyes widened at the action, but Levi could not detect a single trace of pain from her, not even a flinch. "You are going to tell me exactly who you are, what you are doing in here, and how," Levi moved his face until he was nose-to-nose with the girl and furrowed his dark-rimmed eyes into a piercing glare, "you have managed to appear and disappear so suddenly without a single damn trace."  
  
She remained silent and returned the corporal's harsh stare with calm (e/c) eyes. Just as Levi was about to enact out more of his anger, the girl abruptly adverted her gaze to the floor and let out a sharp breath of air. Levi watched her sudden panic-struck face in befuddlement, before following her wide-eyed gaze to the floor.  
  
Levi pushed himself away from the girl and took a large step backwards. His blood ran cold and his face visibly paled at the sight before him. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind simultaneously, but the only sound that Levi could manage to make was a small croak. Every ounce of little energy that the corporal still possessed drained instantaneously from his body and his rapid thoughts were overpowered by an intense wave of dizziness.  
  
The girl winced as the black haired man hit the ground with a loud thud. After a long minute of silence, she slowly approached the unconscious corporal and hesitatingly nudged his side with her transparent foot. His limp body did not even so much as flinch at her touch.  
  
"Crap."


	4. Chapter 4

The bright rays of sunlight streaming through the thin white curtains, coupled with the splitting pain in the back of Levi's head, caused a low groan to leave his chapped lips as his groggy mind slowly pulled itself from the deep abyss that was his dreams. His hand immediately closed over his squinting eyes in a hasty attempt to block out the morning radiance, then slowly began to rub his sore head and temples whilst he exhaled a loud, exhausted sigh. It was in this moment of silence that Levi nestled his head further into his fluffy feathered pillow and allowed his thoughts to wander.  
  
A frown found its way onto his features as scenes from the previous night overlapped and streamed through his mind. A dreadful knot formed in the pit of his stomach at the image of a girl as pale and composed as a porcelain doll. Levi could almost _feel_ her gaze pierce through him as he imagined her large, pastel (e/c) eyes, accented by a heavy set of thick eyelashes. But what really unsettled him was the disturbing memory of seeing the wall of his office as he stared directly through her lower right leg, which was dimly glowing a bluish-white light.  
  
Levi shuddered at the thought and pinched the bridge of his nose, his lips curling downward as he mumbled softly to himself, "What a fucked up dream that was."  
  
"Sorry to say, Hun, but that wasn't a dream."  
  
His dark eyes shot open at lightning speed. The painfully bright light barely registered to Levi as he hastily scrambled out of his bed and openly gawked at the figure perched on a chair in the corner of his bedroom.  
  
"Careful there. Don't want you falling and hitting your head again," the girl snickered, her voice heavily laced with mock concern.  
  
Levi forced the shock and wild panic off of his face and replaced it with his signature blank mask as he cautiously studied the girl from a distance.  
  
(Name) tilted her head back and barked out a loud, hearty laugh. "Oh man," she returned her gaze to the corporal and slapped a hand to her mouth in a lousy attempt to suppress another laugh, "I can't believe you actually passed out! I mean, I could believe it if it were someone else, but you? Holy crap!" Levi glared at the girl as she tipped over and fell to the ground, her arms clutching her stomach as she broke out into a fit of giggles. "I...I...I gotta tell the cadets about this!" she spoke between laughs. Her giggling suddenly stopped and her eyebrows knitted together in a frown as her voice showed a hint of disappointment, "Oh wait...they don't actually know me."  
  
It was in that moment that the rational part of Levi wiggled its way through the scrambled, panicked thoughts that currently made up the majority of his brain. Levi could feel the panic begin to fade as he looked down at the mysterious female and silently reassured himself that there was no logical reason that he couldn't easily fight the girl should the need arise. She appeared to be completely harmless, and Levi certainly did not lack in the necessary skills to ward off threats.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Levi finally dared himself to speak. The small irrational part of his brain resurfaced to the front of his mind and caused him to immediately dread the answers to his questions.  
  
The intruder stood up from her spot on the floor and cleared her throat, "Well, after you..." a large grin split across her lips, " _fainted_ last night, I carried you to bed." She slowly scratched the back of her head and her face took on a thoughtful expression as her eyes stared aimlessly into space. "It was kinda weird though. Usually it takes a lot of concentration to lift solid objects, but you were surprisingly easy. Maybe it's because you're so itsy-bitsy..." she mumbled absentmindedly.  
  
The corporal's eyes narrowed into slits at her remark, but he quickly pushed away his irritation and pressed on in his hunt for answers. "You said it wasn't a dream, but what I saw...none of this is making sense," Levi said.  
  
The girl nodded her head and hummed. "Well of course it doesn't make sense to you. If you knew what was going on, then I'd be doing a terrible job."  
  
"What?" Levi let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his temples. This girl really knew how to grate on his nerves, so it seemed. "Just spit it out already. I'm tired of these damn headaches from trying to understand all these weird-ass situations I keep walking into."  
  
(Name) let out a huff and pouted. "You're no fun," she said, receiving a blank stare from the man in response. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest in defeat. "Alright, alright. It's true. I'm not really a cadet," she admitted.  
  
Before Levi could utter a response, the air was knocked right out of his lungs as he stared wide-eyed in bewilderment at the scene before him. The girl's body suddenly faded into the glowing transparency he had previously seen happen to her leg, effectively causing the cadet uniform she had adorned to fall into a messy heap on the floor.  
  
The girl casually stepped over the pile of clothing and stretched her arms out by her sides. "Ta-daaaah," she drawled out, her voice flat and eyes bored.  
  
Levi remained completely motionless as he regarded (Name) with the expression of a fish. All he could do was silently watch in sheer awe as her lucid form began to ripple like the gentle waves of a river, and slowly mix and shimmer into stable colours.  
  
Her body once again solid, Levi could make out the details of the outfit that had replaced the uniform. A beige corset decorated with a faint white pattern of roses was loosely fitted around her torso. A pair of beige stockings, decorated in the same pattern as her corset, covered her feet and disappeared behind the long white skirt of her shift. The low square neckline of her shift was trimmed with white lace, and her sleeves ended just below her shoulders. Her hair was the same as before, untied and slightly windswept, but underneath the locks on her forehead was the small image of a light green star, bordered with a crescent line.  
  
The corporal's heart beat erratically against his ribcage as he struggled to conceal the intense panic coursing through him. Her answer had only posed more questions, and Levi could feel his grip on reality quickly fading away from him as his mind was once more rapidly flooded with an abundance of thoughts. What little amount of conviction that Levi had still possessed had vanished, and somewhere deep down in his frazzled mind, his pride become wounded as he found himself acknowledging the one thing he had always disregarded.  
  
"You're that ghost the cadets were talking about."  
  
A smile lit up her pallid features and she tightly clasped her hands together in joy. "Aha! You finally admit it!" she exclaimed, pointing animatedly at the black haired man with fervour.  
  
Levi leaned his forehead against his hand and stared at his feet. "I can't believe this," he mumbled.  
  
"But you do," was her response, and Levi found himself jumping backwards at her sudden close proximity.  
  
She straightened her posture and folded her hands behind her back as she lightly bounced her weight between each foot. Levi silently regarded the girl with caution, her bright, smug smile causing irritation to suddenly rise within him.  
  
"Want to know who I am?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side.  
  
Levi frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "I want you to get the fuck out," he replied.  
  
The girl chuckled and shook her head. "My name is (First name) (Last name), as you already know," she said, completely ignoring the irritable man's request. "Before this castle was renovated by your Survey Corps, it belonged to a few owners," she began, turning away from the corporal to pace around the room. "Viscount Frederick (Last name) was the original owner of this castle, and my father. This land and some surrounding manors were his property." (Name) abruptly halted her pacing and eyed Levi from over her shoulder. "That was about 300 years ago," she stated.  
  
Levi's grey eyes widened a fraction. "You...were alive before the titans appeared?" he slowly inquired, surprise evident in his tone.  
  
(Name) nodded her head. "Yes. I was also here when the titans showed up, as well as when the walls were erected," she said. Her eyes travelled down to the floor and she twiddled her thumbs as she quietly added, "I wasn't alive for that, though."  
  
Levi couldn't help but suddenly feel intrigued by the girl's words and found himself asking a potentially dangerous question. "How did a noble's daughter die at such a young age?"  
  
She visibly flinched at Levi's question and looked up with wide eyes, then quickly turned her head to the side and narrowed her brows into a frown. She remained silent for a short moment, before returning her gaze to the corporal with a shy smile as she nervously bit her bottom lip. "I was...I uh...I..." her voice trailed off and her eyes closed shut. After a brief moment of silence, she reopened her eyes and looked at Levi with sudden determination. She took in a deep breath, which Levi was surprised she could even do, then spoke in a jumbled haste while she exhaled, "choked on a walnut."  
  
Silence filled the room while the two stared at each other; (Name) fidgeting with anxiety and Levi wondering if he had misheard as he repeated her words over in his head.  
  
A small, almost inaudible laugh left Levi's mouth and the corners of his lips tugged upwards into a faint smirk. "Tch, so much for a dramatic story," he commented, a hint of amusement in his voice. "So what," Levi arched a thin eyebrow at the girl, "you're deathly scared of walnuts now or something?"  
  
(Name) looked taken aback by his question, before she placed her hands upon her hips and scoffed. "What?" she asked incredulously. "Don't be stupid. I can't eat and I'm already dead. Walnuts ain't got shit on me now," she said in a confident voice, jutting out her chin as she did so.  
  
Levi rolled his eyes and sighed. "So why are you even here? Why reveal yourself to me?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.  
  
(Name) shrugged. "I was bored and just so happened to witness you scoffing at the credibility of my existence. So I decided, 'Hey, why not?' and took on the challenge of proving the resident grump wrong," she replied. "Which was a whopping success," she added.  
  
"A success?" Levi echoed, narrowing his eyes. "You're a ghost," he inwardly winced at the use of the word, "having a conversation with a human. Aren't you supposed to remain inconspicuous and only allow others to catch fleeting glances of yourself?"  
  
The girl shrugged once more and nonchalantly replied, "I couldn't really care less about ghost etiquette, to be honest." She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I admit, you seeing my leg like that last night was an accident, but it's in the past now and I just really can't be bothered to try and cover up my mistake."  
  
Levi's eyebrows raised in surprise at the girl's indifference, before turning downwards into a frown. "Whatever," he said, moving away from (Name) to his dresser to grab a clean outfit for the day. "You got what you want, now leave me alone. I don't need your shit," he said from over his shoulder.  
  
"No way!" she laughed. "It may have been accidental, but I'm not gonna let this opportunity go to waste. Haunting the cadets is fun, but bugging you will be a nice change of pace."  
  
Levi whipped around to face her and shot her a dark glare. "Don't you even fucking think about it, brat," he warned.  
  
A large grin spread across her face. "Too late!" she replied in a sing-song voice, before vanishing into thin air right in front of Levi's eyes.  
  
"Dammit!" Levi cursed. His eye twitched in annoyance as he felt his headache increase its intensity.  
  
It was going to be a long month before the next expedition, he just knew it.


	5. Chapter 5

After his jarring encounter with the dead girl, Levi was relieved to successfully finish the day undisturbed. He was tense and constantly caught himself peeking over his shoulder, but to his surprise, he still managed to complete the remainder of his paperwork and other duties without a hitch. It wasn't until the following day that Levi had the displeasure of her invading his office, just as he was beginning to doubt his sanity and her existence once again.  
  
"Paperwork?" (Name) questioned, eyebrows raised in mild interest as she leaned over Levi's desk and tapped the parchment in his hands.  
  
The corporal opted out on granting the pale woman a response and continued to read over the hastily scribbled letter whilst sipping his lukewarm tea.  
  
(Name) frowned at the lack of acknowledgement from the short man. "Paperwork is lame," she said, idly brushing her fingertips over the stacks of sheets as she slowly began to circle the desk.  
  
Levi resisted the urge to frown and crumple up the paper in his hands. A dozen curses ran through his mind as he silently deciphered the barely legible scribbles belonging to none other than the eccentric Hanji Zoe. _That shitty woman wants me to join her in questioning Jaeger about the other night's events?_ Levi thought, pausing his reading to sift through his memories of the week. _I don't even remember what the hell she was talking about the other day. Too damn busy dealing with this freaky-ass ghost br-_  
  
"Burn it. **Burn it all.** "  
  
Levi jolted in his seat, nearly causing his chair to tip over. Regaining balance, his grey eyes met the pallid (e/c) orbs of his unwelcome visitor as she hovered over him in uncomfortably close proximity.  
  
"What the fuck," Levi uttered, face mildly scrunched up in disgust as he placed a hand on her forehead and firmly pushed her head out of his personal bubble.  
  
A dopey smile was plastered on (Name)'s lips as she pushed her forehead against the corporal's outstretched hand and said in the most chipper voice imaginable, "Burning is fun! Burn all the paperwork, Levi!" Her wide eyes bore into his unblinkingly and her smile grew even larger as she drawled out quietly, "Burn aaaallll the paperwork, Levi."  
  
Levi snapped his hand back to his side and sent the girl one of his venomous glares. (Name) teetered briefly at the sudden lack of support, before readjusting her weight to her feet. Her smile cracked into a grin and a boisterous laugh left her as she situated herself on top of his desk.  
  
"You know what's fun about annoying you, Levi?" (Name) said, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of his desk. "Besides the obvious fact that you're a little grinch with a short fuse, of course," she added.  
  
Silence filtered through the air for a few moments as (Name) peered down expectantly at the black haired man. Picking up the fallen letter on the spotless floor, Levi faced foreword in his chair and returned to reading Hanji's messy writing in an attempt to ignore the girl's obnoxious movements. The silence was short lived as (Name) let out a loud, exaggerated sigh and dramatically rolled her eyes.  
  
"It's fun because if it were anyone else, you'd be able to punish them. But me?" she jabbed her thumb towards her chest, "I'm immune to your violent tendencies and sadistic ways. You're like a little feisty kitten, and I'm a lion. King of the castle. You're a bug and I'm a shoe. You're a cloud and I'm the whole damn sky. You're the scrawny little average Joe, and I'm that super jacked bald guy guarding the pub door in a back alley at night. You're a potato and I'm Sasha. You're the disease and I'm the vaccin-"  
  
 _SLAM._  
  
(Name) fell silent as Levi stood with his arms perched on the surface of his desk. The once neat stacks of papers had shook from the sudden force of the man's hands and a few sheets tipped and fluttered to the floor. His gaze was level with hers, and the only hint of emotion on his impassive features was the sinister glint in his darkened eyes.  
  
Tilting her head slowly to the side, (Name) placed a lone finger on her bottom lip and returned the corporal's stare with big doe eyes. "Are you mad at me?" she questioned, voice just above a whisper. "I'm so sorry, Lance Corporal Levi. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she said, her lips curving downwards into a pout. "Please forgive me."  
  
A deep sigh escaped Levi's thin lips as he slumped back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't you have anything better to be doing than annoying me, you stupid brat? Such as being dead in a fucking whole in the ground."  
  
The girl let out a light laugh and brushed away his rude tone with a wave of her hand. "Well if you want to be technical about it, I'm actually doing both at the same time. Somewhere not too far from here, my body is laying in a coffin," she replied. A small grin appeared on her lips as she added, "I guess that means that there's two of me."  
  
Levi rolled his eyes in response before glancing up at the clock on the wall. Another tired sigh left his lips. _Dammit,_ Levi cursed in his head. _It's almost dinner, so I don't have enough time to start back up on my paperwork._ The raven haired corporal shot a glare at the smiling girl still perched beside him on his desk.  
  
"Damn brat," Levi muttered under his breath, earning a small giggle from the source of his frustrations.  
  
With nothing to do to pass the remaining time, Levi inwardly groaned and reluctantly turned his head towards the pale girl. She appeared exactly the same as the previous morning; her pallid body clad in an unfinished outfit and her locks of hair loose and slightly windswept. Levi found himself tracing the outline of the faded green star and crescent line on her forehead with his eyes. The symbol was odd and seemed rather random on the girl, which caused a spark of curiousity to light up inside him.  
  
"What's up with the tattoo?" Levi finally asked.  
  
(Name) brushed her fingers over the coloured skin above her eyes and frowned slightly, her cheery disposition suddenly vanishing. "It's not a tattoo," she replied, returning her hand to her side and meeting her gaze with the corporal's. Levi arched a slender eyebrow at her response, silently urging her to elaborate. (Name) sighed and continued, "It's a mark. I'm not really one-hundred percent sure on its meaning and I stopped caring about two centuries ago, but all ghosts have it. The colour of the symbol is different for each type of ghost."  
  
"Each type?"  
  
"Yeah. Red symbolizes anger and the inability to move forward, forgive and forget, and belongs to vengeful spirits. An evil spirit can be identified by black, which is not only a warning of danger and death, but also symbolizes corruption and sorrow. Poltergeists are not limited by location because they only haunt individual objects and people, and they demand attention. Their colour is orange."  
  
"Shouldn't yours be orange then?" Levi said, the tiniest of smirks briefly flitting across his lips.  
  
(Name) rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Haha. No. Unlike Poltergeists, I am bound to this property. I can only venture a little bit past my grave, which is in the forest not too far from here," she replied. "I'm what you'd call a general ghost. My colour is green because my mind is unrestricted and I am free to do as I wish. General ghosts aren't branded by their personality or an intense emotion. They're the most common type of spirit and can appear in many different forms." (Name) leaned forward slightly and gave Levi a sarcastic smile. "Yes, I am a prankster, but believe it or not, I'm not actually all that malevolent. Poltergeists are often pranksters too, but they are _violent_ and _sadistic,_ which is why I'm not one of them."  
  
Levi unfolded his arms and scoffed. "Poltergeist or not, you look like a dumbass," he remarked and arose from his chair. Levi didn't bother to spare the girl a second glance as he strode across the flawless floorboards and exited his office.  
  
~~~~  
  
Levi was half way through his meal when the temperature started to lower around him. He suppressed the urge to groan in dread and continued to maintain his focus on his conversation with Erwin, who was situated beside him at the head of the table. It wasn't until Hanji bolted up from her seat and squawked loudly, that Levi was forced to pause his discussion of the upcoming expedition with his superior.  
  
"Cold! Cold! Cold!" Hanji shrieked, hopping up and down on each foot and sporadically flailing her arms out by her sides. "Coooold!"  
  
"Hanji! Calm down," Erwin said as he glanced around the quietened room. "You're causing a commotion. What's wrong?"  
  
The bespectacled woman halted her squealing and shook her body vigorously like a wet dog. Hanji sucked in a deep breath and blew away the messy strand of hair dangling over her nose, before directing her intense gaze to the blonde and cocking her head to the side. "Didn't you feel that?"  
  
Erwin furrowed his thick eyebrows in confusion. "Feel what?"  
  
"The cold! It felt like a lump of snow had been dumped on me!" Hanji exclaimed and shivered.  
  
Levi sighed inaudibly and turned his eyes away from the eccentric woman to survey the amused audience with mild irritation. White flashed in his peripheral vision and Levi could feel the sense of dread increasing within him.  
  
"What's that brat doing now," he muttered under his breath.  
  
"Hmm? What was that, Shorty?" Hanji questioned, having calmed down and returned to her seat.  
  
Levi ignored the brunette and allowed his grey eyes to follow the distant white figure of (Name). She walked silently around the outer edge of the room, occasionally tapping a few soldiers on the shoulders and causing them to shiver. (Name)'s smile grew wider when she caught Levi's stare, and he frowned.  
  
Levi made the unfortunate mistake of taking a sip of his tea in that moment, because the next thing he knew, he was struggling to keep the liquid down as he choked and coughed at the sight before him.  
  
(Name) had flashed him a mischievous grin and a second later, she was gliding across the middle of the hall, _15 feet above the floor._  
  
Hanji leaned over the table and stared at Levi with wide eyes. "Whoa, Levi! What's wrong?"  
  
Levi took a moment to regain his breath and tore his gaze away from the cackling ghost. "It's nothing," he replied a bit too quickly.  
  
Hanji leaned even further in her seat and eyed the stoic corporal with scrutiny. "Hmm," she tilted her head and tapped a finger against her chin. "You look pale, Shorty. Like, more pale than usual. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd just seen a ghost."  
  
Levi stood up from his chair and quickly put away his empty tray. "Tch. If you want me to question Eren with you, then hurry the hell up. I don't have time for your crap," he said and shot a death glare towards a grinning (Name) while he headed towards the exit.  
  
~~~~  
  
"So you don't remember anything from that night?"  
  
"Look, I told you, I was asleep the entire time."  
  
"Yes, yes. All locked up in your cell..." Hanji mumbled as she slowly paced around the dimly lit dungeon. She came to a stop in front of the boy's cell and wrapped a hand around one of the bars. "Any cases of sleepwalking in the past, Eren?" she questioned as she gently tugged on the cell bar.  
  
Eren scratched his head and shrugged. "Not that I know of, Squad Leader."  
  
The woman nodded and began to jot down notes on her clipboard. "No signs of forced entry either," she hummed.  
  
Levi scrunched his nose up in disgust as his eyes travelled around the room. "Hurry up. I'm not gonna stand around in this filthy shit hole for much longer. Which reminds me," his eyes landed on the titan-shifter standing across the room, "You'll be cleaning this room from top to bottom tomorrow after training, Cadet."  
  
Eren straightened his posture and gave a quick salute. "Yes, Sir."  
  
"Are you absolutely sure you didn't see Eren, Levi?" Hanji inquired, peering up from her notes to gauge his response.  
  
Levi scoffed. "I'm not blind, nor dumb, brat. If Eren was there, his ass would be in hell right now for leaving his cell past curfew."  
  
"Just his ass? Not the rest of him too?"  
  
Levi whipped his head in the direction of the sudden voice and found himself staring at the pale, smirking face of a certain phantom. (Name) folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall by the dungeon entrance. Her attention moved to Hanji, who was silently looking between Levi and the direction of his gaze.  
  
"What's up, Shorty? Is that wall particularly dirty or something?" Hanji asked, a small grin forming on her lips.  
  
The corporal averted his gaze to the titan-lover and frowned. "Yes. Titan shit is leaning against it," he remarked.  
  
"Hey!" (Name) shouted and glared daggers into Levi's head, who inwardly suppressed a smirk from breaking through his stoic mask.  
  
Hanji shrugged and readjusted her glasses. "Well anyways," she glanced down at her clipboard before sending a puzzled expression to both men, "maybe the cadets are just lying?"  
  
Eren furrowed his brow in confusion at the thought. "Like...one big prank?" he questioned slowly.  
  
Hanji nodded her head and grinned. "Yes! If we think of the possible motives for a prank like that, then maybe this will all begin to make more sense."  
  
"Um...well if it was a prank, then it really shouldn't matter, right? It already happened and we've got an expedition to focus on," Eren said.  
  
"No, no, no, Eren," the squad leader shook her head. "See, I know a thing or two about pranks. If a whole group gets together to pull a prank, then it's going to have a big impact. But all that's come out of it so far is confusion, which is why I think that the prank is not yet finished."  
  
Letting out a sigh, Levi pinched the bridge between his nose and stalked towards the door. "This is a waste of time. Do something useful instead of investigating pointless crap that no one cares about," he said over his shoulder.  
  
"But, Levi!" Hanji whined. "This is important! I gotta figure this out so I'm prepared for when they strike again!"  
  
Levi spun on his heel and shot a dark glare to the bespectacled woman. "You're being a dumbass. There is no prank. Who the hell would want to waste their time creating such a useless pra-"  
  
 _Wait._  
  
Ever so slowly, Levi inched his head to the side where his tormentor stood leaning against the wall. (Name) grinned widely at the corporal and wiggled her eyebrows, her pale eyes glinting with mischief.  
  
 _No way._  
  
"Ohohoho, yes," she said, taking note of the subtle doubt and bewilderment displayed on his features. Pushing herself off the wall, (Name) walked the short distance between her and Levi and brought her mouth close to his ear. A light, feathery chill caressed his neck as she whispered in a teasing voice, "Try explaining to your friends how a ghost is responsible," before vanishing into thin air.  
  
Levi found himself facing an assault of questions from a curious Hanji, and inwardly groaned. _Dammit._


	6. Chapter 6

It was a good thing that you could control who could see and hear you, otherwise your cackling would’ve easily been heard all throughout the castle.  
  
As far as Levi knew, you were off somewhere wreaking havoc to some unsuspecting soldier, but unfortunately for him, that was not the case. Instead, you had chosen to simply become invisible rather than leave the dungeon. You were hoping that Levi would be forced to admit being wrong, ultimately injuring his pride and causing his embarrassment for your entertainment, but the outcome was much more disappointing. Levi managed to successfully shake off Hanji’s incessant questioning and escaped to his office without letting anything slip. Witnessing his barely masked frustration and panic was certainly worth it though, and Hanji pounding and whining at his office door only made you laugh harder.  
  
It was only when Hanji ceased her actions and continued down the hallway that you quietened down. Moving behind the flustered woman, you could hear snippets of her hasty mumbling.  
  
“-strange...very odd. He’s hiding something…looked funny in the dinner hall today. This requires an investigation…”   
  
Completely oblivious to your presence, Hanji continued to mumble to herself as she turned around the corner, leaving you standing in the middle of the hallway with a smile on your face.  
  
“This should be fun,” you said, before vanishing into thin air.  
  
~~~~  
  
“Did any of you notice anything…weird at dinner?” Jean inquired as he carefully added another card to the growing structure.   
  
“You talking about Squad Leader Hanji?” Reiner asked, casually shuffling the remaining deck of cards. “Nothing new about her behaviour, really.”  
  
“I don’t think Jean’s referring to that,” Armin piped in.  
  
“So you noticed it too, huh? Figures you would,” Jean said as he leaned back and draped an arm over the top of his chair.   
  
“It started from the far side of the room and slowly made its way to the centre of the dining hall, then just stopped,” Armin said.  
  
Reiner glanced up from the deck in his hands and furrowed his eyes at the blonde boy. “What did?”  
  
“Some soldiers would twitch or jump from their seats as if someone had touched them from behind. They also appeared to be really cold,” Armin explained.  
  
“I noticed that too,” Bertholdt said quietly from across the room.  
  
Sprawled on his bed, Connie rolled on his stomach to look at his fellow cadets. “What? I didn’t see anything!” he said with a pout.   
  
“Anyways, ever since that incident with the ghost stories the other night, I haven’t seen anything weird until today,” Jean said.  
  
“Um…” Bertholdt started, earning the attention of the other soldiers in the room. “I saw something else…”  
  
Jean leaned forward in his seat and looked at him expectantly. “Well? What was it?”  
  
The tall boy fidgeted from where he sat across the room and averted his gaze to floor. “I-it was this girl…she was really pretty…”  
  
Reiner perked up at his friend’s words and grinned. “What? You saw a pretty girl? That’s not uncommon here.”  
  
“N-no! That’s not all!” Bertholdt said. His voice was frantic and a light blush dotted his cheeks. “She wasn’t a soldier…”  
  
A collective silence fell upon the room for a long moment as the boys processed their friend’s words.   
  
It was Jean’s turn to stutter as he asked with uncertainty, “W-was it… _her?_ ”  
  
Bertholdt only nodded in response.  
  
“Well? What happened?” Connie asked, sitting upright.  
  
Folding his hands in his lap, Bertholdt leaned forward slightly and spoke softly, “Last night, I woke up to use the washroom, and on my way back something white moved passed the window. I moved closer to check what it was, and that’s when I saw her standing outside.”  
  
Connie gaped and shouted excitedly, “No way! What was she doing? What’d she look like?”  
  
Bertholdt began to fiddle with the hem of his shirt as the blush on his face turned darker. “She was staring up at the moon. She wore a white dress and she was very pale. She almost seemed to glow under the moonlight.”  
  
“The way you describe her, it sounds like she’s from a fairy tale or a poem,” commented Armin, eyes wide with wonder at the thought.  
  
The tall cadet nodded shyly. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The way her hair blew in the wind and the sweet smile she gave me, it was like looking at a princess.”  
  
Jean bolted up from his chair, knocking down the delicate structure on the table and scattering the cards on the floor in the process. Ignoring the protests from the cadets at the table, Jean all but shouted with bewilderment, “She _smiled_ at you?!”  
  
Bertholdt flinched, taken aback by the sudden energy in his comrade. “…Yes,” he said, nodding slowly. “She caught me staring at her and just smiled. Then I blinked and she was gone.”  
  
“These rumours are getting out of hand. There’s no such thing as ghosts, brats.”  
  
“Corporal!” Jean exclaimed, raising his hands into a salute. The other cadets followed suite in unison, surprise equally evident on their features.   
  
Levi regarded the recruits with irritation from where he stood perched against the doorframe, arms tautly folded across his chest.   
  
“H-how long have you been standing there, Sir?” Bertholdt questioned nervously.  
  
The cadets’ conversation would undoubtedly only feed the ego of the subject of Levi’s torment. With the continuous frustrations brought upon by his unwanted meetings with the ghost, Levi could not imagine the girl portrayed as something so elegant as described in Bertholdt’s tale. Sure, she was nice to look at, which Levi would never admit aloud, but she was the farthest thing from sweet.   
  
Levi pushed away his thoughts and frowned. “Long enough,” he replied flatly.   
  
“Corporal Levi is right. There’s no such thing as ghosts. It’s just a bunch of stupid rumours.”  
  
Levi was quick to hide his shock as he turned to face the brunette boy standing behind him. “Jaeger! What are you doing here?”  
  
Eren straightened his back and gave his superior a salute. “Sorry, Sir! I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”  
  
“Tch. You didn’t sneak up on me, brat,” Levi said with a frown. “You didn’t answer my question. It’s lights out and you’re not in your cell.”  
  
Eren scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Corporal. I lost track of the time.”  
  
Levi narrowed his eyes at the titan-shifter before turning back to face the other cadets. “You heard me. It’s lights out. Get your asses to bed and quit the ghost crap.”  
  
“Yes, Sir!” the cadets replied and saluted in unison.  
  
Levi returned his attention to Eren as the recruits prepared for bed. “I’ll take you to your cell. Can’t have any titan brats running around at night,” he said, before heading down the hallway with the brunette in tow.   
  
As he walked, Levi couldn’t help but wonder the whereabouts of the ghost. Surely, if she was witness to the lie he had told, she’d only try to make it more difficult for him to deny. There was no way Levi could allow himself to admit he was wrong about her existence. Not only would it make him look like an idiot, but the ‘I told you so’ remarks and pestering from Hanji would be endless.   
  
“Corporal?” Eren spoke, breaking Levi from his thoughts.   
  
Levi glanced behind his shoulder at the boy. “What?”  
  
“If there really was a ghost, what do you think she’d be like?”  
  
Levi resisted the urge to halt in his steps and glare at the boy. “She’d be an annoying, obnoxious, spoiled brat begging to get her teeth kicked in by my boot,” he spat, clenching his fists as he continued to march down the dimly lit hallways.   
  
“That…sounds sort of personal, Corporal,” Eren boldly remarked.  
  
Levi’s eye twitched. “Tch.”  
  
Eren continued, seemingly unaware of his superior’s irritation, “My friends made it sound like she’s a very gentle, beautiful and peaceful spirit.”  
  
“Lies. All of it,” the corporal said through gritted teeth.  
  
To Levi’s relief, silence fell between the two for the remainder of the journey to the dungeon. The soft tap of their footsteps echoed faintly along the walls until they had arrived at the entrance. Opening the large wooden door, Levi silently stepped into the room, only to instantly halt at the sight before him.  
  
“…Corporal?” a groggy Eren spoke from his bed in the dark cell, the faint hallway light illuminating the confusion on his face. Receiving no response from his superior, Eren arose from his bed and saluted. “Corporal Levi?”  
  
The only thing that greeted Levi was the dim, empty air as he slowly turned around to face the open doorway.  
  
“…Nothing,” he mumbled softly as his grey eyes scanned the empty room. Returning his attention to the titan-shifter, Levi said, “I was just making sure you were in your cell. Get back to bed, Cadet.”  
  
“…Yes, Corporal,” Eren said as he watched the man exit and close the door without another word.  
  
Levi silently trekked through the dark castle to his quarters, his eyes forcefully trained ahead.   
  
It was a struggle to prevent himself from trying to comprehend what he had experienced in the dungeon. What shocked him more than anything was his reaction, or lack thereof. Was he actually getting _used_ to these mind-numbing situations?  
  
“So you really don’t think that she’s pretty, Corporal?”  
  
Levi spun around to face the brown haired boy and narrowed his eyes. It was only now that Eren stood in the moonlight of the window that Levi noticed just how pale he looked- how he almost appeared to glow.  
  
Eren crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “I can’t help but call bullshit on that, Sir.”  
  
Levi scowled at the boy. “Are you done having your fun yet, brat?”  
  
A smirk spread on the boy’s lips. “Oh? You seem rather calm, Corporal. Are you getting used to me?”  
  
Turning his gaze to the side, Levi grunted in response.  
  
Eren’s smirk only grew. “Alright, I guess I’ve had my fun.”  
  
A warm feeling spread through the back of Levi’s mind as he returned his gaze to the figure in front of him. The air rippled in waves around Eren, distorting the moonlight and shadows that highlighted his features into a blur. It was like being in a dream, Levi noted. He could feel the temperature becoming increasingly cold as the ripples continued to warp the air around Eren, until all that was visible was a blotch of glowing light.   
  
A figure immerged from the fading light. Like a pond hit with a pebble, the blurry glow began to clear and the features of the figure took shape as the ripples slowly died down.   
  
It wasn’t so hard for Levi to imagine Bertholdt’s tale now. Her appearance was the same as usual, but the edges of her body almost seemed translucent as her white dress and pallid features melded with the glowing light of the moon.   
  
“…Alright,” Levi finally spoke, breaking the silence, “how did you manage that?” It would be a lie if he were to say he wasn’t just a little intrigued by the ghost’s abilities.  
  
(Name) smiled. “It’s a trait that all ghosts share,” she said as she slowly walked closer to him. “The art of illusion, where a spirit can tap into the subconscious of a living being and alter what they perceive to be real.”  
  
Levi recalled the warmth he felt in his head when he watched her transform. “So you made the cadets and I hallucinate,” he said, frowning at the thought.  
  
(Name) laughed and nodded her head. “Pretty much. Tricking that many people at once can be taxing though, so I try not to stay for too long.”  
  
“Why Jaeger, though?”  
  
Coming to a halt a couple feet away from the corporal, (Name) shrugged. “I was originally just going to watch them tell their stories from the shadows, but then I remembered that Eren is the only one who sleeps in the dungeon, so I figured I’d try it out and see if anyone would notice. And I kind of left you hanging today, so I thought I’d stop by and show you the trick to clear up any confusion.”  
  
Levi scoffed. “I wasn’t curious about your shenanigans, brat. Instead of ‘stopping by’, it’d be better if you just permanently disappeared.”  
  
Levi’s trained eyes did not fail to catch the minute twitch of (Name)’s lips, which broke her smile for the briefest second. However, his attention was quickly averted when she pressed her hand against his chest and leaned forward.   
  
(Name)’s smile returned in full force at the corporal’s obvious discomfort. “So how did your talk with Hanji go?” she questioned, voice dripping with mock innocence.   
  
The heavy shadows cast by the moonlight only made Levi’s scowl appear more sinister. “Not the way you hoped,” he said.   
  
(Name) pouted, disappointed by his response, which in turn caused the faintest of smirks to flit across the corporal’s lips. Pushing her away, Levi spun on his heel and resumed his walk to his quarters, leaving the phantom behind.  
  
A frown found its way onto (Name)’s face as she stared at the retreating back of her target. “Cocky bastard,” she mumbled under her breath.   
  
Plastering a bright smile onto her face, (Name) quickly caught up to the corporal and said in a chipper voice, “That Hanji Zoe seems like a really nice girl.” Earning no response, (Name) began to skip passed Levi as she added, “I think I’ll go tell her about the beautiful friendship that you and I have.”  
  
With the speed of lightning, Levi grabbed her hand in a death grip and tugged her backwards to a stop. His cold gaze met her amused eyes as he spoke calmly, “Bullshit. You’re bluffing.”  
  
“Am I? What makes you think I won’t?”  
  
“Because you’re a spoiled brat. If everyone knew of your existence, the mystery would quickly fade and you’d be bored.”  
  
(Name) rolled her eyes. “You honestly think that everyone will believe Hanji? At least half of the Survey Corps thinks that woman is crazy.”  
  
Levi could feel the dread rising within him. Even if it did not affect (Name) negatively, Hanji’s awareness of the situation would certainly create dire consequences for himself, which is what his tormentor undoubtedly wanted.   
  
“Most of the cadets already believe you exist. What do you think will happen if that crazy Shitty-Glasses believes in you too?” he questioned.   
  
(Name) placed a hand on her chest and gasped dramatically. “Oh, Hun, I didn’t know you felt that way about me,” she said sweetly while glancing down at their entwined hands.   
  
Eyes widened a fraction, Levi hastily pulled his hand away and took a step back. “Don’t change the subject, brat,” he said. Any evidence of emotion was once more wiped away.  
  
(Name)’s laugh echoed throughout the hallway, leaving Levi to wonder if anyone else could hear her. “It’s a good thing I know where her office is. I’ll go visit her before she falls asleep,” she said, before dashing off into the darkness.     
  
“Shit,” Levi cursed under his breath as he kicked off into a run after the girl.  
  
~~~~  
  
Hanji sat precariously with her feet resting atop her cluttered desk and the front legs of her chair teetering in the air. Face stuffed in a heavy leather bound book, the bespectacled woman was completely unaware of the dying candle light and the creaking protests of her seat.   
  
Her eyes had yet to droop, as she had come prepared for a night of reading with five cups of coffee. There was no way that Hanji would trade the chance to read her book for a few hours of sleep, when it was of such utter importance. The squad leader already had her suspicions about Levi when she caught wind of the rumours floating among the cadets. Getting the supposed ‘Ghost Book’ from Armin was an easy task- all she had to do was ask, and now after hearing the rumours, the next step was to study what she could about the resident ghost. But of course, no matter how interested in ghosts she may be, titans were never far from Hanji’s mind, which is why in no time she had already begun to mix the two together.  
  
“Ghosts are just dead people,” the brunette mumbled as she flipped another page. “But titans die too,” she added. Silence filtered through the cramped room for a long moment, before being abruptly disrupted by the sound of the scientist’s rambunctious gasp. “GHOST TITANS!”  
  
With a loud bang, the door to the office burst open and slammed against the nearest wall. In her state of delirium, Hanji jolted in her seat, causing her chair to finally loose balance and send her crashing backwards to the floor, all the while she pointed wildly and continued to shout, “GHOST TITANS!”  
  
It was a lack of response from anything that caused Hanji to finally arise from her awkward position on the floor and investigate the sudden disturbance. Levi appeared in front of the previously empty doorway with a look of alarm that only Hanji could see in his eyes. The corporal scanned the room in silence before landing his gaze on the dishevelled squad leader.  
  
“Levi…?” Hanji tilted her head slowly to the side as she pushed her glasses up. “Did you happen to see any ghost titans?”


End file.
